FIA offloads two Indonesia-bound passengers over cyber fraud links

FIA Immigration offloaded two Indonesia-bound passengers at Karachi airport over alleged links to a cyber fraud network, an FIA spokesperson said.

The passengers were identified as Hanzala Azeem, a resident of Faisalabad, and Ahmed Ali, a resident of Rawalpindi. Both were travelling to Indonesia on visit visas.

The spokesperson said the two passengers were stopped during immigration clearance after officials found their travel information suspicious.

During questioning, the passengers said they were associated with AB Technology, a Cambodia-based Chinese company allegedly involved in online fraud activities.

According to the FIA, the passengers said the company later shifted its operations to Indonesia and was being run through a man identified as Jamshed alias Jimmy.

The spokesperson said suspicious chats, call centre scripts and other material were recovered during the examination of their mobile phones.

The passengers said they had been assigned to contact customers using scripts provided by the company.

According to the FIA, Jamshed alias Jimmy later offered them jobs in Indonesia and also arranged their travel.

The passengers also disclosed that they had contacted an agent for immigration clearance and alleged facilitation at Karachi airport.

Ahmed Ali told investigators that Jamshed alias Jimmy transferred Rs300,000 to his account as show money for the trip, the spokesperson said.

The FIA said both passengers also admitted that they had lured other people into joining the company.

Immigration officials shifted the two passengers to the Anti-Human Trafficking Circle Karachi for further investigation and legal action.

Reporter: Khursheed Rahmani